Year

The first item on the agenda of the Open Forum immediately following the WIA’s Annual General Meeting on 2nd May 2009 at the Gippsland Campus of Monash University at Churchill was the presentation of a number of WIA awards.

One was the rarely presented G A Taylor medal. This award was first suggested back in 1981, finally being struck in Perth in 1988. The medal is presented in a wooden box, with the following inscription:

"The GA Taylor medal is presented in recognition of exceptional service to The Wireless Institute of Australia.

Major George Augustus Taylor was the founding Chairman of the Wireless Institute of New South Wales in 1910, out of which grew today’s Wireless Institute of Australia. He was a pioneer in many ways; granted one of the first transmitting licences under the 1905 wireless telegraphy act (prior to 1908); he was among the first ten wireless experimenters to have been licensed by the PMG Department (1909); demonstrated that pictures could be sent by wireless (1910); transmitting the first military wireless signals in Australia (1911); conducted the first wireless communication between moving trains (1911); was the first to fire a gun by wireless (1913)"

In presenting the medal to Peter Freeman VK3KAI WIA President Michael Owen VK3KI stressed that while Peter had contributed to amateur radio in many ways, in particular with the annual VHF/UHF oriented technical conference GippsTech conducted by the Eastern Zone Amateur Radio Club, it was his ongoing contribution as Editor of Amateur Radio and Chairman of the Publications Committee that was being honoured. Michael paid tribute to the quality of the magazine under Peter’s direction, acknowledging the ongoing pressure of deadlines imposed on those producing the magazine.

In accepting the medal Peter expressed his surprise and gratitude, paying tribute to all of the Publication Committee members who worked for the success of the magazine.